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Irish publicans back home for weekend Gathering event

Some 4,100 Irish pubs are affiliated to a global network which is growing all the time

A shamrock is viewed in the window of an Irish pub in preparation for St Patrick’s Day celebrations in New York City. Some 150 publicans, representing 600 Irish pubs worldwide, will attend the Irish Pubs Global Gathering Event in the Burlington Hotel from Sunday evening. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Every developed world country has an Irish pub. The developing world is catching up. There are are Irish pubs in Egypt, Uganda, Nepal and even in Cuzco, Peru, where Paddy’s Bar at 11,156 ft claims to be the highest Irish pub in the world.

There is also an Irish pub in the Faroe Island called The Irish Bar. Its proprietor Hans Andreasen was inspired to set it up by the success of other Irish bars in Scandinavia and is coming to the Gathering event.

Every weekend he flies in an Irish traditional band from Sweden and flies them back on a Sunday. “Everywhere else in Torshavn, the pubs, they are just big rooms and you can see everyone, two, three hundred people in one spot. In an Irish pub it is different. You have eight or nine people by themselves talking. That is unique around here.”

One of the goals of the weekend is to come up with a quality mark which would mark out a real Irish pub from the fake one, though the definition is fraught with difficulty.

“Some Irish pubs are an embarrassment and some are ones you can be proud of,” said Mr O’Coineen. “An Irish pub has to have some connection with Ireland, but we don’t have a definitive answer yet.”

Mr O’Coineen said the fuss over Arthur’s Day showed there was an “immature and schizophrenic attitude” to alcohol in Ireland.

“Irish pubs are not really about alcohol. They are about community and all the other ingredients of belonging. The Irish pub is the frontline of Irishness around the world.”

The event will go from tomorrow with Tuesday. Among the speakers will be Paul Mangiamele, the chief executive of Bennigans, which is one of the biggest Irish pub chains in the world and Alltech chief executive Pearse Lyons.